Page 50 of Into The Green

"Elm, please answer my questions," I demanded a little desperately. We needed to get out of there.

Elm sighed, burying his face in my hair. "The men I didn't know. They were not from around here. Her skin was like alabaster. It was smooth like..."

"Elm," I snapped, feeling a bit like a mother speaking to a fickle child. "Were there bruises or cuts on her skin?"

"Oh, they were the most beautiful bruises. I would have kissed every last one."

"Did they say her name?"

"My goddess Jade. Jade, oh, a beautiful name for a beaut..."

"Oh, for God's sake," I said, wrenching out of his hold and stalking toward the circle. "Hey lady nymphs," I called and they turned to me, brows knitted like they didn't understand my presence. "Elm here said you all saw our friend Jade here the other day," I said and Jasper straightened suddenly, pushing the girl away from him and she whimpered like he'd kicked her. "He said she was with some men."

"Oh, men," the redhead moaned. "Dreamy, dreamy men..."

"Yeah," I said, dry and impatient, "I'm sure they were positively scrumptious. But I need to know their names and what they looked like."

"You're so beautiful," a woman said, walking up. She had been in the flower circle, but situated away from Doyle and Jasper. Which, well, was weird. "Please let me kiss you. Please," she said and I felt myself smiling. Well, that explained it. "I would die to."

"That will hardly be necessary," I said, offering her my cheek. "But if you could make your friends tell us about those men, that would make me very happy."

"May I braid your hair?" she asked as if she hadn't heard me.

I looked over at Jasper whose lips quirked up in amusement. I guess that was why he hadn't wanted to come in the first place. It was impossible to get any straight answers out of them.

"What's your name?" I asked her as she reached up to tuck a strand behind my ear.

"Willow."

"Fine, Willow. You can braid my hair if you make them talk about the men they saw."

"Oh, dreamy men..." the blonde cooed.

"Oh, my God. I can't do this," I said, dropping down on the ground, shaking my head. Let Jasper and Doyle deal with the straight fae. I would just let myself get pampered by Willow and listen to the hum of Elm as he moved in beside me, toying with the torn hem of my skirt.

"Listen," Jasper said, his voice losing the false-softness he had been using with them previously, likely just to goad me. "Those men have my sister. I need to know what they look like."

"Oh, tall, Dark, handsome..." the blonde said dreamily, eyes closed like she was savoring a memory.

"Dark, Dark, Dark," the redhead agreed, her hands none-too-subtly moving sensually down her own body.

"They were Dark fae?" Jasper demanded, losing patience by the minute.

"Oh, the hair," one of the nymphs hanging on Doyle started, her hands moving to her breast and teasing over the nipple, drawing a small groan from an attentive Doyle. "So long and white..."

"A Dark fae with white hair?" Jasper asked, perplexed.

But the nymphs had nothing else to give us as they all seemed to start toying with themselves and one another. It was a freaking nymph orgy and we were in the center of it all.

"It's more than we had when we started," I mused and ignored the fact that Willow placed a kiss underneath my ear as she braided.

A darkness was down over Doyle's face then though. It was so out of character that I felt a pit settle into my belly. "We are going to have to cross over into Dark territory."

"So?" I asked, shrugging. I'd go into hell to find Jade.

"So Jasper is technically Light. I am Light. You are unaligned. There are rules."

"Um, fuck the rules," I said, brows scrunching up at his hesitance.